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by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
Aug 13, 2018

… since we published the photo above, taken during a protest against a case that has come back into the news this week. Along with human rights and women’s groups across Latin America in 2015, we joined the chorus of voices condemning the government and a hospital in Paraguay for refusing to allow a 10-year-old child who had been sexually abused by her stepfather to have an abortion. When the girl’s mother took her daughter to hospital suffering from stomach cramps and vomiting, she did not realise the girl was more than six months pregnant. et she was arrested and imprisoned for supposedly allowing the abuse to happen, and only after the girl had delivered was she released with all charges dropped.

The chairperson of the Termination for Medical Reasons group has welcomed a decision by the Minister for Health to allow doctors to refer women who have pregnancies, where there is a diagnosis of a life-limiting condition, for an abortion abroad before the end of this year.

In a statement to RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Simon Harris said he wants to allow certain parts of the legislation to come into effect in advance of services beginning in January.

Police in Keroka, Nyamira County detained two women over abortion-related crimes.

Keroka police boss Eliud Muchira said the two women were seized on Friday evening from a house in Nyankoba village while in the company of two high school students who were allegedly attempting to procure illegal abortion.

BUENOS AIRES — They narrowly lost the vote. But as supporters of a bill to legalize abortion in Argentina began to shake off a stinging defeat in the Senate on Thursday, they took consolation in having galvanized a reproductive-rights movement across Latin America and began to consider how to redirect their activism.

A coalition of young female lawmakers who stunned the political establishment by putting abortion rights at the top of the legislative agenda this year seemed to be on the verge of a historic victory with the bill. But intense lobbying by Catholic Church leaders and staunch opposition in conservative northern provinces persuaded enough senators to vote against it.

New Delhi: Abortion was legalised in India almost half a century ago, yet unsafe abortions – performed in unhygienic conditions by untrained providers – are the third largest cause of maternal death. Nearly 78% of the more than 15 million abortions conducted annually in India are outside of health facilities, giving rise to safety concerns. There is only one licensed provider for 224,000 women in rural areas.

India allows medical termination of a pregnancy of up to 20 weeks’ gestation to be conducted by a registered medical practitioner. There have been attempts to amend the act to expand the provider base to include nurses and non-allopathic medicine practitioners, and extend the deadline to 24 weeks from the current 20.

Argentina’s abortion debate mirrors Ireland in every respect bar one
Unable to travel from Argentina for an abortion, 3,000 women have died since 1983

Aug 7, 2018
Mariela Belski

A very welcome Bill will soon come before the Oireachtas in Ireland, effecting a transformation of Ireland’s provision of abortion services. A very important Bill is also before the Argentinian senate right now, proposing to decriminalise abortion up to 14 weeks of pregnancy and thereby guarantee access to safe abortion services. We in Amnesty International Argentina are calling for the senate to vote for its adoption.

There are many similarities between our two countries in the context of abortion. Therefore, we are heartened that a group of 60 Irish parliamentarians from both Seanad Éireann and Dáil Éireann, across almost all political parties and groups, have signed a letter to the Argentinian senators urging a vote in favour of the Bill.

Prospects faded over the weekend for a bill that would legalise abortion in Argentina, when an opposition senator said she had changed her mind and would vote against the measure when it is brought to the floor on Wednesday. The proposal, which would expand abortion rights beyond current laws that allow the procedure only in cases of rape or when the mother’s health is at risk, passed the lower house last month by 129 votes to 125.

Since then religious activists, particularly in rural parts of the country, have pushed back against the measure, which is backed by feminists and rights groups galvanised in recent years by efforts to stop violence against women. The bill would make Argentina the third country in Latin American to broadly legalise abortion, after Uruguay and Cuba.

Obstetric and Gynecology expert, Dr Olufunke Olamigoke has called for improved access to skilled birth attendance at birth, emergency obstetrics care, effective family planning and reproductive health services as the most cost effective strategy in tackling maternal mortality.

Olufunke who spoke at a media round table organized by Development Communications Network, said the lifetime risk of maternal death indicates that one in 30 women in Nigeria will have a death related to pregnancy or child bearing.